Editors note: In a previous version of this story, two words were inadvertently left out of a statement attributed to attorney Amy Reasner. The sentence should have read: “Moving the case to federal court was done because Reasner said Sellz pleaded that her federal rights were violated.” The words that did not appear in the original story were "pleaded that."

A lawsuit brought against Johnson County officials by former county employee Shanti Sellz alleges she was fired in retaliation for reporting that her former supervisor physically assaulted her.

The lawsuit filed by Sellz names Josh Busard, her former supervisor and the county's Planning, Development and Sustainability director, and four county Board of Supervisors: Mike Carberry, Lisa Green-Douglas, Janelle Rettig and Rod Sullivan as defendants.

Sellz served as Johnson County's first local foods coordinator between 2015 and 2017 when she reported to Busard.

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Josh Busard, left, the Johnson County Planning, Development and Sustainability Director, describes the county's two new solar arrays at an open house Wednesday as supervisors Mike Carberry, far right, and Rod Sullivan look on.(Photo11: Stephen Gruber-Miller / Iowa City Press-Citizen)

The suit is a civil case and includes eight charges. Busard is accused of assault and the other defendants, as well as Busard, are accused of retaliation, procedural due process violations, violation of the Family Medical Leave Act and violation of whistleblower protection under Iowa Code 70A.29, among others.

Johnson County attorney Janet Lyness told the Press-Citizen over the phone that neither she nor any county employee would talk on the record about the lawsuit. None of the defendants, who were also contacted, wished to comment.

The day after the suit was served, on Sept. 4, the case was removed from the Iowa District Court of Johnson County to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in Davenport. The county has retained outside counsel, Amy L. Reasner of Lynch Dallas, P.C. law firm, to represent it.

The lawsuit alleges a series of retaliatory acts by Busard after an incident that took place May 17, 2017 at their Johnson County office during work hours.

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Shanti Sellz, the local food and planning specialist for Johnson County, gets tours the Scattergood Friends School farm in West Branch on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016.(Photo11: David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Sellz told the Press-Citizen that Busard, in anger about her use of flex-time, "lunged at me, he lost control of his body and came over his desk at me and pulled himself back" during the incident. The lawsuit says he came within 18-24 inches of Sellz before regaining himself.

What followed after she reported the incident, the lawsuit states, was "radio silence" and no support from the Board of Supervisors and little-to-no effort on the county's part to help put an end to what she called an "unsafe" work environment.

Though she said that Busard's subordinate, Nate Mueller, began communicating with her in lieu of Busard on day-to-day issues, Sellz thought the county offered her "nothing, no option" to help mend a work atmosphere where she felt "physically unsafe." They didn't move her to another office, they didn't change who her supervisor was, she said.

Sellz said Busard isolated her, made her cancel meetings and told her she could only work out of her office. For someone who has been a farmer for many years, and as she said with a job that requires "getting out there and talking to people," Sellz felt trapped.

Sellz received a pre-termination letter from Busard on June 13, 2017 for excessive use of sick leave and not using proper channels to report sick leave.

Stressing she didn't feel safe at work, Sellz said panic attacks were a regular occurrence at work following the incident. She received a week-long medical leave from June 5 to June 12. After that, she applied for unpaid leave through the Family Medical Leave Act and on June 13. About six hours later, the lawsuit says Busard gave her the pre-termination letter.

The suit alleges violations of her due process including Busard making the call on her termination, despite being the focus of her complaint.

Despite getting a positive job review by the supervisors at a March 30, 2017 public meeting, Sellz termination was upheld unanimously by the supervisors on Oct. 12, 2017.

The lawsuit did not specify the damages Sellz is seeking. Neither Sellz nor her lawyer, Rockne Cole, would elaborate on potential damages either. The lawsuit states she is seeking damages in the form of lost wages, benefits, bonuses, damages for future pecuniary losses, emotional pain, punitive damages and attorney's fees and court costs totaling over $5,000.

Current Johnson County Supervisor Kurt Michael Friese is not being sued. He recused himself from all discussions and votes pertaining towards Sellz due to a previous commercial relationship. Friese was the longtime owner of the Devotay restaurant in Iowa City and he purchased produce from Sellz.

Reaction of supervisors over Sellz firing

Public comments regarding Sellz's termination came at the end of an Oct. 12 supervisors meeting.

Mike Carberry

The firing was the last item on that week's agenda. According to a live video recording of the meeting, supervisor Rettig said before voting to approve or deny her termination that "the county has, to no one's knowledge, ever gotten to this point." She added the supervisors had received the final decision to fire Sellz at their previous formal meeting and that there's "nothing in our handbook that calls for a hearing."

After Green-Douglas moved to uphold the termination and Sullivan seconded, Carberry was the only supervisor to address the termination at length.

"This whole thing is kind of distasteful and has kept me up at night," Carberry said. He told the board he had known her since she was eight-years old, Sellz father was Carberry's chiropractor.

"This is very difficult for me. We kind of put [Sellz's] position into a department that wasn't ready for it and didn't really understand it to begin with."

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Johnson County Supervisor Janelle Rettig speaks during an event for Iowa City RAGBRAI volunteers on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, inside the Park Lodge at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area in Iowa City.(Photo11: Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Carberry called the relationship between Sellz and Busard "like oil and water" and that "I wish it hadn't gotten to this point."

"Going by the book, she expired her time off, her sick leave..." Carberry said before Rettig asked him to stop talking. Carberry agreed and her termination was approved 4-0 by the supervisors quickly thereafter.

In the video of the meeting, Sellz and her attorney, Cole, could be seen sitting in the back of the meeting room. Cole can be heard trying to address the board after the meeting is adjourned, before the video cuts out.

During the discussion, no mention was made by any supervisor about Sellz' assault complaint.

Sellz, lawyers talk lawsuit

Both Sellz and Cole said that they had hoped to avoid litigation.

"I had no interest in pursuing a lawsuit, I didn't want to drag this out," she said. "But this is the most liberal county in Iowa, supposedly, and as a worker for that county, my safety was not a priority or even acknowledged. I want to make sure this never happens to anyone else."

Cole said there have been some "constructive discussions" between he and the county's legal representation, but that he and Sellz were "in this for the long haul."

"We're most concerned about how the county has responded to the allegation of violence in the workplace," Cole said. "There should be some measure in place for a neutral investigation. There was no neutral fact-finding whatsoever in the county."

Sellz said she misses her work.

"I really loved my job and I think I was really good at it. Losing my job for standing up for myself is really unfortunate," Sellz said.

Reasner, who practices law in Cedar Rapids, said that the lawsuit is still very much in its "early process" with no trial date set.

Lisa Green- Douglas.(Photo11: Special to the Press-Citizen)

Moving the case to federal court was done because Reasner said Sellz pleaded that her federal rights were violated. There were no motions pending in district court, allowing for the move to federal court.

March 30, 2017: Sellz gives a report to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors updating them on her projects. She gets compliments from supervisors Kurt Michael Friese and Lisa Green-Douglas and Rettig

May 17, 2017: Sellz said the assault took place at about 9:30 a.m. She was discussing her use of flextime —alternate work time that is not the normal 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work day. She said Busard appeared physically upset during the conversation and was upset about her using flextime. When she challenged something he said, Sellz said he lunged at her.

The lawsuit states she verbally reported the incident to DJ Castelein, human resources coordinator for the county, at 1:30 p.m. and filed a written grievance to Castelein and Lora Sharmek, human resources administrator for the county, the next morning. She asked that Busard have no contact with her pending investigation of her grievance. She met with them again on May 23, 2017. The lawsuit states the human relations employees declined her request.

May 24, 2017: Sellz reports the assault to the police, Sgt. Randy Lamm of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. Days later, Sellz hears that Lamm emailed Lyness about the report and that Lyness told the officer she had voluntarily stayed under Busard.

June 1, 2017: Sellz emails Lyness. With Shramek and Castelein cc'd on the email, the email includes this graph:

"I am writing you directly because it was indicated to me by Sgt. Randy Lamm that when he spoke to you regarding the assault report I filed, you told him HR informed you that I was comfortable continuing to work under Josh and am comfortable staying in this office pending the investigation. I want to reiterate that the information you received from HR is not accurate, and I continue to work in an environment where I fear for my physical safety and is causing me a tremendous amount of emotional and physical stress. For HR to tel you otherwise is entirely false.

The lawsuit states Lyness never responded to the email.

Busard then wrote a disciplinary report against Sellz on the same day for :insubordination" and then another for "misconduct" on June 5.

June 5, 2017: Sellz's nurse practitioner Kathleen Devine, who works in Coralville, provides written authorization for a medical leave through June 12.

June 7, 2017: Nathan Mueller writes another disciplinary action against Sellz, she receives it in an email June 12.

June 12, 2017: At about 4:15 p.m. Sellz requests short term disability paperwork from county HR. The lawsuit says Shramek said there wasn't short term disability at the county, but she could apply for unpaid leave through the Family Medical Leave Act. Mueller calls Sellz asking where she is, she says he should ask HR. Sellz's nurse practitioner also requests two additional weeks off.

June 13, 2017: Shramek sends FMLA paper work to Sellz at 8:24 a.m. nurse practitioner fills out paperwork, which is done by 12:50 p.m. Mueller sends email to Sellz at 4:30 p.m. saying she did not have vacation time or sick leave. At 6:30 p.m., Busard issues a pre-termination letter saying he's firing Sellz for excessive use of sick leave and not reporting sick leave through proper channels. Also, he considered Sellz a "no call/no show" on June 12.

June 15, 2017: The day of Sellz's pre-termination hearing, Shramek delivers her response to Sellz' May 18 assault grievance. It states:

Our recommendation is that Josh Busard and you work through issues with the help of a counselor...

Personal counseling is encouraged for Josh and you. Additionally, participation in training on conflict management, proactive communication and review of Johnson County's Respectful Work Environment policy is recommended.

July 25, 2017: A three-person panel of Johnson County employees is formed to review Sellz's termination. Busard picks Lyness to be on the panel, Sellz picks Johnson County auditor Travis Weipert, Treasurer Tom Kriz is also on the panel. Sellz's counsel emails Lyness and asks her to recuse herself from the panel.

Sept. 17, 2017: The panel recommends Busard uphold the firing. Busard, the decision maker for the hearing, upholds his firing five days later.

Sept. 28, 2017: Sellz files an appeal to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Oct. 12, 2017: Sellz's firing is upheld by a 4-0 vote by the Supervisors.

July 23, 2018: Sellz and her attorney, Cole, received a right-to-sue letter from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in Des Moines pursuant to Iowa Code 216.16 and 161 Iowa Administrative Code Section 3.10.

Notice of the suit was sent to Carberry, Green-Douglas, Rettig Sullivan, Busard, Johnson County and the Board of Supervisors the same day.

Sept. 4, 2018: The sued parties file acceptance of service.

Sept. 5, 2018: The suit is removed from district court and sent to federal court. The notice of removal to federal court is filed by Amy L Reasner, the attorney for Busard and the supervisors.

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.